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Livinia spun around and looked at herself in the mirror. The sparkly blue dress she had on swayed as she turned. The glitter on the bodice glinted in the overhead light of her room. She sighed and grabbed the skirt, flapping up and down pathetically.
I look like a boy in girl's clothes, she thought. She reached around her back to try and unzip the dress. Liv somehow got it about a quarter of an inch undone before her girlfriend rushed into the room.
“Livi!” She yelled excitedly. She stopped in the middle of the room and gasped. Liv, facing away, cringed. She felt her eyes welling up with tears.
“You look so pretty!” April squeaked.
Liv turned around slowly, her eyes on the ground. “I hate it,” she admitted softly.
“You do?” April asked more gently. She approached her girlfriend and held her by the arms. “Why? I think it's perfect.”
Liv mumbled, “I look like a boy.”
“No, you don't! You look like the prettiest turtle in the world,” she leaned in and kissed Liv on the cheek. Liv smiled slightly, but her face fell quickly.
“People are gonna make fun of me.”
“If anyone says shit, me and Raph will rip them limb from limb,” she threatened with frightening sincerity.
“I know. I don't want you guys to get into any fights!” The slider begged.
“You would do the same for me and them.” She ran her hands down Liv's arms, then held her hands.
“Because that's my job!”
“And it's my job as your girlfriend to protect your honor, too.”
Liv blushed and stammered. April laughed behind her hand.
The human asked, “Want me to do your makeup?” And Liv, having lost her words, nodded.
April had Liv sit on the ground with her legs out in front of her so she could straddle the turtle’s lap. She had Liv close her eyes as she applied eyeliner and sparkly eyeshadow.
As her girlfriend worked on brushing on the eyeshadow, Liv asked, “Are you sure you’re okay with this? I have a suit I could wear instead.”
April huffed, “For the last time, yes! I know you want to fit in, but I just want you to be happy being yourself. Besides, if we do this, then everyone will know what a kickass girlfriend I have.” She wiped away the fallen power from under Liv’s eyes. A big smile broke across Liv’s face unconsciously. It made April smile, too.
“No, no,” Liv countered, “everyone will know what a gorgeous girlfriend I have.”
“Mm, no, you’re way more beautiful.”
“You’re braver,” Liv peaked at her with one eye.
“You’re more heroic.” April leaned in closer
“You’re graceful in everything you do.” Liv did the same.
April pressed the tip of her nose against Livinia’s snout, stating, “And you inspire me to be everything I want to be.” Liv’s eyes began to flutter closed.
Raph’s voice broke through the moment, “Maybe everyone will start calling you April O’Dyke.” They snickered at their own joke.
April and Liv startled, jumping away from each other.
Liv screeched, “Raph! Get out of my room!”
“You two are gonna make us late. It’s 6:30.” They pushed off the wall and walked away.
“Oh, shit!” April turned back to her girlfriend. “Okay, lemme do the eyeliner, then we can go!” She hurriedly found the liquid eyeliner and uncapped it. With steady hands, she did one quick flick over both of Liv’s eyelids. “Alright! That’s pretty good for a rush job!” She smiled to herself.
The two girls got to their feet and began gathering their things. April had a small purse hung off her shoulder while Liv carried a clutch. They ran out to the living room. April followed the rest of the family out of the lair while Liv stopped at the fridge. She gently took out two small plastic containers. She jogged up to April, who had stopped to wait for her, and handed one of the containers to her. Inside, was a perfect blue corsage. Liv had a yellow one, nearly identical.
“I picked out yours and my siblings picked out mine,” she mumbled, averting her gaze.
April took the bouquet out of the box and slipped it on her wrist. “I love it.”
“It feels just like the movies!” Mitchie exclaimed as the group stepped into the prom venue. It was dark, with multicolored spotlights moving around and loud music playing. April grabbed Liv’s hand, squeezing it. The girls looked at each other and grinned.
“C’mon!” April yelled excitedly, tugging Liv into the room. “Let’s dance!”
Liv took a final look at their siblings, who were all smiling teasingly, before running with April.
The two made it to the edge of the dance floor. April pushed through the crowd. As she moved through, Liv got many greetings from fellow classmates. Most were positive reactions, at first. She caught some confused glances down at her choice of clothes but was pulled away before any further comments. April stopped at a small clearing in the mob. She pulled Liv in front of herself and grabbed her hands.
The DJ was playing a lively pop song. April danced along, bouncing on her heels. Liv swung their conjoined hands side to side with the beat. She stared with her mouth slightly parted at her girlfriend smiling and laughing. She glanced down to watch both of their dresses flow with their movements. When she lifted her head again, April was beaming at her. She smiled back easily. The song changed to something even poppier. The girls let go of each other as they started thrashing around wildly to the song.
Some friends from their classes joined the two for short stints at a time. One mutual friend from their creative writing class grabbed spun Liv around by the shoulders. The turtle startled, but relaxed at the girl's excited grin. April was at Liv's side in an instant.
The girl gasped, “Awe, you guys look so cute!” She grabbed April's wrist and ogled the corsage. “Oh my god, your flower things match! I love you guys! You're adorable-e-e-e!” She leaned in and hugged them both at the same time.
The couple hugged back, Liv's tail wagging. The three stayed together and chatted and danced for a while.
When the music turned to a slow song, the mutual friend gave a wink and slipped away into the crowd. April turned to Liv with a shy smile. She pushed some of her hair behind her ear, then giggled.
Liv glanced away for a second as she laughed, too. She patted her hands on her thighs nervously.
“So,” she started, “Uh, do you… know how to do this?”
April stepped toward her. “You want shoulders or waist?”
“Uh, I'm taller, so you can put your hands on my shoulders, I guess.”
“Alright,” April agreed. She rested her hands on the turtle's shoulders. Liv stiffened slightly, hesitant to move her arms. April started swaying to the melody. “C'mon,” she encouraged softly.
Liv gulped and reached out to hold April's waist. Even through the fabric of the dress, she felt the warmth of the human girl's skin. She settled her hands more confidently around the curve of her girlfriend's sides. She found the tempo of the other girl’s swaying and followed it.
She looked into April's eyes, watching the highlights dance with her movement. The patches of freckles across her cheeks mesmerized Liv. Her smooth, brown skin made Liv want to caress her face forever. Without thinking, she leaned in and rested her head on April's shoulder.
Meanwhile, April was appreciating her girlfriend, too. The white stripes on Liv's head resembled a tiara. Her russet brown eyes looked red when the spotlight passed over her face. Her deep, cool green skin complimented April's warm undertones. Her heart jumped at Liv leaning in. She was expecting a kiss for a moment, but the turtle's head veered off to the side and landed on her shoulder.
Liv sighed happily, “I love you.”
April felt her cheeks flush. She took a second to reply, “I love you, too.”
Liv took a step closer and wrapped her arms around the small of April's back. April did the same to Liv's neck. They both closed their eyes and swayed to the music.
A few hours later, back at the lair, Liv was gushing about her perfect night to her siblings.
“-And then when the slow dance song came on,” she flapped her hands, “she asked which role I wanted and I just kinda defaulted to the masculine role. But it didn’t even matter. It felt like those cartoon moments where the rest of the world became a black void and it was just me and her.” Liv squealed quietly. “I told her I loved her.”
Raph interrupted, “Lesbian behavior.”
Liv ignored them, continuing, “and she said it back! Uhg, that’s literally my wife!” She laughed with glee.
Donnie groaned, “It’s so depressing that you of all people got a prom date first.”
Mitchie grinned at her big sister. “You guys are so cute! If I start dating someone, we have to do a double date!”
Liv nodded eagerly at the suggestion.
“Vinnie,” Raph said, “you sure you’re okay in that dress? It looks uncomfortable. You can change.”
She looked down at herself, watching the glitter of the skirt sparkle as the fabric shifted. She smiled to herself.
“I’m okay. I could sleep in this.”
“Me when the gender euphoria delusion hits,” Mitchie joked.
Donnie asked, “Did anything else happen with April?”
“Oh, yeah!” Liv lit up. “We took some pictures in front of the backdrop! Lemme show you.” She pulled out her phone and started scrolling through the pictures from a few hours prior. There was one nice picture of her and her girlfriend standing close together and smiling. The rest were either intentionally cheesy poses or complete chaos. One was a blurry picture of April trying to lift up Liv and nearly dropping her onto her shell. A handful that follow are of the two laughing.
As she was scrolling through, April texted her with a plethora of photos she took, too. The turtles all gathered around to laugh and awe at the memories.